Student Spotlight: Rohit

In this series, we spotlight a nationally ranked fencer from Texas who worked with Vanguard on his ACT Test Prep and College Application process. Here is our interview with Rohit, who applied to numerous colleges for Statistics and Data Science with Vanguard for the Fall of 2026. He was accepted to Northwestern University, Texas A&M University, and UT Dallas!

In what ways did you feel more prepared in your college application journey than your peers who did not seek our services?

Vanguard helped with everything from activity building to essay writing using past examples that worked, so it helped reinforce that my essays were up to par with those who got into top schools. The examples gave me a good idea of what the structure was supposed to be and things that worked.

Why did you choose Vanguard to work with you during the college application process? What was the biggest help to you in our process?

I saw that Vanguard was successful with others including my sister, so I trusted their help. The biggest help was the personal aspect of lessons and counseling, and how Vanguard was helping every step of the way whenever needed. All my specialists and all my instructors, they were always reaching out to me, checking my essays and helping edit. And it was really good because it wasn't like a big class where they might get back to you sometimes—it was always a one-on-one lesson. They helped with everything from the resume building to the essays. I found that pretty useful, because obviously it's pretty stressful and them being there always helped: having a professional who knows what they're doing always helped reinforce I was in good hands.

How did the skills you learned at Vanguard help you after you left the program? Perhaps at school or other areas?

At first in Test Prep, sometimes it would be hard to get practice tests done, but I learned to always complete HW even if I wasn’t feeling great, which helped with my discipline. Vanguard set these deadlines for me—and they’re strict deadlines. Where I would sometimes slack off, having the deadlines really helped me stay focused. That translated to school and hitting deadlines, but even outside of school, like with all the activities I do, I learned to stay focused.

What were you the most nervous about going into the college process?

I feared rejection and was always concerned that maybe others had better applications. I think it came from both school and the internet. I've seen a lot of TikToks of other people's applications and they looked super overwhelming—like they did everything and they had everything. But at the end of the day, a lot of my application centered around fencing, so I feel like having that one thing kind of helped me stand out instead of having a little bit of everything. At some point I just stopped watching those TikToks, because I understood that this process is pretty subjective.

What was your experience like in Vanguard’s Test Prep program?

Vanguard’s Test Prep was a very structured program, with different phases that helped ensure that I was successful. I felt that once I was on the drilling stage I was nailing almost every practice session.

Was there anything else Vanguard helped you with during the college selection/college counseling process that you would like to highlight?

Helping with the activity list and the descriptions were pretty helpful as those are very highlighted in the college apps. I thought Vanguard did a pretty good job with that.

How did your Vanguard Specialist help you through the process and with the anxieties you had going into college applications?

They made sure that my resume, essays, activities were up to par, which helped reinforce the idea that I wouldn’t get rejected.

What was essay coaching like at Vanguard?

I think the brainstorming for essays, especially the narrative, was very helpful, because it took a few lessons to narrow down a unique story and I believe things like that shouldn’t be rushed.

If you are willing to share, what did you end up writing your college essay about and how did the end result turn out? How does the essay you wrote with Vanguard compare to what you would have written about on your own?

I wrote about how my fencing experience tied into my fencing data research. While the content would be similar without Vanguard, they helped me connect it to many other themes like leadership and pattern recognition which I likely wouldn’t have talked about.

What colleges did you get into? Where did you choose to go and what are you studying?

I got into Northwestern University, Texas A&M, UT Dallas. I’ll be attending Northwestern for Statistics and Data Science. I'm a big sports guy, so there’s going to be Big 10 football. Northwestern’s got the best of both worlds, all the sports alongside great academics. I'm pretty excited.

What are your future goals with your degree?

I want to do high-level statistics research and write papers, but it’s a broad field and I will likely have other opportunities based on my experiences. In high school, I did some sports analytics research, which I found really interesting, especially since it was about fencing. I want to do more research using similar models. Of course, I'll learn about a lot of models at Northwestern and I would love to tie that into economic fields.

What was your favorite part of working with Vanguard or your most proud achievement during your time working with us? Is there anything else you would like to highlight about your experience?

I think the best part was getting my ACT results back and letting my instructors know, because it reinforced the idea that all the test practices I took and lessons I sat through paid off.

What advice would you give to younger Vanguardians embarking on their College Application process?

Don’t be afraid to talk to your specialists because they were always there to help when I had problems or needed help formulating essay ideas. Don't focus on what other people are doing—like what extracurriculars they have, what test scores they have—just focus on you and be yourself in the essays. Don't try to be like someone else. Do what you're passionate about. I think that definitely helped me because when I was writing my essays, I actually liked what I was writing and I enjoyed it.

Will you continue fencing in college? Will we see you in the Olympics soon?

I think fencing will be just a hobby now. Northwestern doesn’t have a men's fencing team, but they have a club team, so I may still try to get to club nationals. I may also join a running club!

Specialist Madison L

Hamilton College